Friday, 05 September – Thursday, 11 September 2014 ISSUE 547
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B R I TA I N ’ S N O . 1 A F R I C A N N E W S PA P E R Finding Fela to hit UK screens this weekend
Nigeria’s Royal Majesty in London for Lifetime Award
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SPECIAL COIN TO REMEMBER BRITAIN’S FIRST BLACK ARMY OFFICER By Yemi Dipeolu
World War I hero Walter Tull, the first British army officer of Afro Caribbean decent, will be commemorated on one of six £5 coins being released this year to mark the centenary of the First World War.
Tull, who was born in Kent in 1888 to a Barbadian father and a white English mother, enlisted in the British army at the start of WW1 and was quickly promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. By 1916 Tull had risen to an officer rank despite the fact that people of colour were banned from being commissioned as officers. He served on the Italian front where he twice managed to lead all his men to safety, and was commended several times for his ‘gallantry and coolness under fire’. In March of 1918, when he returned to
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The coin, featuring Tull, by the Royal Mint
France, Tull was killed by machine gun fire during a battle on Somme Valley. Before enlisting in the army in 1914, Tull was one of Britain’s first black professional footballers. He initially played for Tottenham Hotspur. However, he was subjected to racial abuse while playing on the pitch and as a result was transferred to Northampton Town. Tull was recommended for a Military Cross during his time serving in the army but was passed over. A campaign urging the government to give him the award posthumously is currently ongoing. A Medal for Leroy, a novel by critically acclaimed children’s writer Michael Morpurgo based on Tull’s life was published in 2012, and was adapted for stage a year later.
Continued on page 2 Tull overcame racial prejudice by becoming Britain’s first black army officer